Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Me an Angler - OOH! Suits you sir.

Well here at fishinscotland.co.uk, I don't get a chance to get out fishing as much as I'd like these days which means I don't have any reports to write up. Even though this site is titled Fishing in Scotland, it doesn't mean I have to write exclusively about that so on seeing a recent article about Paul Whitehouse being a very keen angler I've decided to do wee article about other celebrity anglers with some helpful and witty comments about what they're famous for from the the folk at the Wild Fishing Forum. So, if you see an article about celebrity anglers in one of the magazines soon you'll know the idea was nicked from me here at fishinscotland.co.uk., only kidding.

The stars after Marco Pierre White are all courtesy of the wild fishing forum guys so thanks and I'm assuming it's o.k. to use quotes as I said I would when I posted the thread ( there is some very slight editing to keep the format consistent ). If anyone would rather the comments were removed, please let me know. If everyone wants the comments removed then I'm gubbed. Some are less charitable than others but I don't think there's any malice intended so I've copied them too.

Here's the list so far.

Paul Whitehouse - t.v. presenter probably best known for the fast show.

Billy Connolly - comic - never met him.

Mick Brown - angling presenter - met him at G.A.C.

Eric Clapton - musician, AKA God or slowhand - never met him.

Marco Pierre White - chef, entrepreneur AKA " The Great White " ( probably made that up himself ) - would love to meet the guy.

Fiona Armstrong - " one time ITN presenter - never met"

Ian Botham - "one time saviour of English cricket - once almost knocked down on one of his charity walks on the A698 near Wooler [he waved back ]"

Jane Seymour - "the bond girl not the third wife of Henry VIII - nope never met but I have seen Live and Let Die (great theme tune crap movie)"

Jeremy Paxman - "tip top journalist (Did you threaten to overrule him?) - not exactly met him but stood next to him at the security gate at Heathrow once"

Chris Tarrant - "TV personality who peaked with Tiswas and career been on the slide ever since - never met and frankly would cross the street to avoid"

Jackie Charlton - "star of Revie era Leeds United - met several times as a star struck bairn (and somewhere in the depths of my loft I have his autograph along with the likes of Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer, Johnny Giles, Eddie Gray, Trevor Cherry, Norman Hunter, Allan Clarke, Mick Jones, Paul Reaney, Joe Jordan et al) in a time when footballers lived in normal houses, in normal streets and were approachable!"

Timothy Dalton - "I met him on the Tummel once. I was already chatting to him when I started to think there was something familiar about him...then I realised I was talking to James Bond."

Rodger Dawltry - "Who vocalist, was a keen angler who I seem to remember even had his own stockie bashery."

Paul Gascoigne AKA Gazza - "was a regular on a stocked fishery (Howwood) just outside Glasgow when he played for Glasgow Rangers. All that money and still fishing stocky basheries... now there's a sobering thought!"

"Did Gazza ever have a sobering thought? Come to think of it did he ever have a thought?"

David Duval - "the US gowfer. Was filmed fishing the water features at the US Open one year- in clear breach of club rules. If that was over here there would be wee man in a blazer with a thin, neatly trimmed moustache to move him on. 'I dinnae care who ye are son, there's nae fushin on this golf course!'"

Paul Young - "Met him at Durness. Was not impressed by his attitude.Nick Hancock, had a few pints with him at Scourie hotel. Nice bloke who openly admits he is not an expert."

Robson Green - "never met him."

"Ehhh. Who is Paul Whitehouse? Who is Nick Hancock? Who is Mick Brown?Maybe I should stay in more."

Phil Cool - "met him once he wasnt that funny,but he was up for the seatrout fishing"

"Erm... not that funny? The man wisnae at his work! Come to think of it, he wisnae funny at his work either."

David Bowie - "Not a fisherman (that I'm aware of) but while fishing the WoL in the 80's, David Bowie stopped and chatted to me for a good twenty minutes. He was astounded you could catch trout in the heart of the city. He was staying in the Dragonara (as it ws called then) Hotel before playing a gig at Murrayfield. He seemed very interested in the idea of fooling fish on a wee bundle of feather and hair."

"Very, very cool"

Chris Tarrant and Jim Davidson - "used to Carp fish years back,Davidson went more into keeping Koi and stopped fishing,last I heard(lost touch with the Carp crew some time ago).Roger Daltreys' into fish breeding,his fish are much sought after,I hear he's a bit of a fanatic."

...Who can remember Bernard Cribbins and Gareth (Welsh Pike record) Edwards on the 'Fishing Race' back in the seventies??

I've also managed to fish with Christopher Ecclestone - I'll see if I can find a photo."

"I do.... with the prize, a golden maggot"

Allan Liddle - "Fished with him a few times"

Sir Michael Hordern - "I spent several hours with him on the Wiltshire Avon but only found out who he was months later. "

Dean Andrews - "plays DS Ray Carling in Life on Mars.Went on a grayling weekend a year or so back and he was on it too. Nice bloke but didn't recognise him at all, even though I watched the series. Only realised who it was after we got back. Funny bit was during a bit of banter me and my mate Mark (both hard-core Londoners) taking the piss out of his 'tash and how all northern blokes had no fashion sense and were stuck in the 70s.

Think he actually posts on the other forum."

Henry Winkler - "the Fonz, he was in Scotland recently promoting his new book, he is an avid trout fly fisher."

So there you go. I'm keen to hear any other stories so if you've got one leave a comment and I'll add it.

If you read between the lines there really are some quality comments from folk who really know what fishing is about.